I've had a string of like 6 games where I experienced blatant buffing and nerfing. I can give all the scenarios, but it will be a lot to type and read. But what I experienced was the game's engine forcing me to win and forcing me to lose. I don't like either scenario. I want the game to be decided by player skill and player skill only. No randomness or inconsistency excused by the "it's how real baseball is" mantra. Is this a video game or a simulator?
The truth is, SDS can no longer be trusted. They're just a smaller and less profitable EA that's become complacent and is churning out cut copies yearly that get progressively worse from a technical and gameplay standpoint. The last major update might have been 17? Eight years, fellas... eight years. They still want that $70 from you and then some if you're dumb enough to buy packs of cards.... but doesn't seem like they want to give us anything meaningful in return. Ignore the games issues and smokescreen players with new (but also recycled) cards, bat skins, bat flips and create a female baseball player feature. All cosmetic things to give people cheap thrills, but meanwhile players who want the best baseball game possible are left wanting more year in and year out.
Nagging issues I've experienced recently / other reasons to blow this game up.
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Animations costing me hits, runs etc. I anticipate my opponent doing something and upon catching a fly or fielding a grounder. I throw home, only to see a 3 second delay between my command and my player actually throwing the ball home. Sometimes he doesn't throw it at all. I've also had players trying to beat out a throw for an infield single, only to slow up and round first like they were considering going to second.
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Good / perfect commands on the meter pitching system landing 2-3 feet away from my intended target. What's with this inconsistency? I hit that yellow sliver perfectly, but my pitch wasn't perfectly thrown? Sometimes it's just straight hung and hit out of the park. Am I in control of my pitches or not? Reeks of randomness.
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Freezing. Whether that's freeze offs (which admittedly I haven't seen a lot of this year) or my Diamond Dynasty menus stalling and having to back out of the game entirely. I've noticed an uptick in this. Must've borrowed this feature from Madden.
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Removing features. Madden gamers know this all too well. We went "next-gen" but then lost the ability to add our own music. PS5 was an upgrade over PS4, right? Is losing that feature an upgrade? I'm confused.
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Graphics and Animations. Untouched in eight years. There's like 3 slide animations and every single player slides the same exact way. Same with diving to catch a ball... and basically everything else. Animations contain very little variety.
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Pickoffs are pure randomness. I've taken 1 step leads with Elly De La Cruz and did not command him to steal... and on numerous occasions he's been picked off. 99 Speed, 99 Steal, 1 step lead and picked off. Meanwhile I can't even pick off Cal Raleigh with the same lead. Only time I've been able to pick players off is if they take the two step lead. So how does this feature work, exactly? I've never been clear on it and frankly I don't think SDS is either. Seems like it's pure randomness.
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Wonky Baserunning. Steals are random too. Why is Elly taking off perfectly on some attempts, and then stuck in mud on others? Is this another random game mechanic? Or can we actually control the player's jump? Seems random and you're just banking on your players ratings to increase your odds. Also, I've had players (unprompted) not tag up on a fly ball and get thrown out when I realized they were just going to run.
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Hits to Homerun Ratio / Excessive Homeruns. It's not uncommon to see a box score where 35-50% of the hits resulted in homeruns. Look at real MLB box scores and this is not something you'll see. Yet The Show likes to tout the randomness players experience in this game as "real baseball." Real baseball with an unrealistic amount of homeruns lol.
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No Identity. Is this a Simulation or Arcade baseball title? The homeruns suggest arcade, but then the "real baseball" randomness suggests simulation. Which is it? Trying to be both is not working.
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No tattoos. In 2025. No excuses here, 2K has been doing this a long time in NBA 2k (and the WWE games) Perhaps it's an issue of the money SDS has to spend on the game, but regardless, that just means we're allowing a dinky studio with all sorts of limitations make our baseball video games.
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Wonky Stadium Creator. Making a stadium is not easy, number one.... and even when you do make it, the game gives you all sorts of problems when you want to upload it / use it in games.
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Uniform creation. There's been no changes to this in years. No sleeve patches, alternate uniform options, no additional fonts, nothing. Untouched. A recurring theme with SDS.
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Untouched modes and aspects about the game. If it doesn't directly make them money, SDS will neglect it. They neglect a lot about this game. Uniform creation, creation options in general (logos creation tools, announce-able team names etc) , Franchise, RTTS and so on. Lazy and EA like game development.
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Check Swing and Umpire Inconsistency. The "real baseball" excuse again. But some games, it's so lopsided and gives one player a huge boost. Check swings are always successful for their players and not mine (or vice versa) and umpire calls are a lot more lenient or stringent from one player to the next. Real baseball, sure... but there's certain things I think that need to be omitted for video game quality of life purposes (much like they did with removing the need to warm up relievers)
I can definitely continue going, but I think that's good for now. I'm sure the next few games I'll play will be a lot of fun... but will inevitably return to it's inconsistent nonsense that has been hindering a once beloved series. It's just Madden for baseball, now.